Cessna Citation X blank illustration templates

Well, here I go. After years of politely telling y’all that “yes, business jet templates are coming”, I have finally made good on my word. Although these Citation X blank illustration templates didn’t come as quickly as I had hoped, it is significant in that it is the first of what will be many business and corporate jet templates to come.

A word of warning though: I actually know very little about corporate jets. I know so little that the only reason why I decided to do the Citation X first was because it was the only one that I could name off the top of my head.

Blank side view templates of the Cessna Citation X

FYI, I think it’s totally hilarious how I chose what just might be the most swoopy and organically-shaped aircraft for my first business jet illustration. The Citation X was not an easy aircraft to illustrate!

As I was doing my research for these illustrations, I noticed that the Citation X was available with and without winglets. In order to make these blank templates as accurate and useful as possible, I also created a version which included them:

As you can see, it’s a very unique looking aircraft. I’m not going to go as far as to say that it’s an attractive airplane though. Except for the sculpted wing box which flows seamlessly into the fuselage behind the wing. That looks great!

However, the 3D modeler in me can’t help but to think how many arguments the Cessna engineers and designers had about that little design detail.

What exactly is the Cessna Citation X?

Besides being one of the most organically-shaped aircraft that I have ever illustrated, it was a very popular successor to the models it replaced (Citations III, VI, and VII). A total of 337 were produced from 1996 to 2018, making it one of the most successful business jets of all time.

Probably the most notable tidbit of information about the design and development of the Citation X was that it was built to be faster than anything that Learjet had to offer at the time. The rivalry between the two companies has always been fierce, and Cessna wanted the X (which had the official model designation of “750”) to be the fastest and best-performing business jet on the market.

After all, speed and performance are two of the most important attributes of a business jet for the people (and corporations) that buy these things. It was almost as if you could hear Cessna telling Learjet to “shove it up thier ***” when the 750 was formally announced in October of 1990. I wish I could’ve been there.

Other neat facts about the Citation X 750

The good thing about not knowing very much about corporate aircraft is that I learned a lot while I was making this set of illustrations. And you know what? I think I’m starting to understand why there is such an enthusiastic group of business jet fans out there. I don’t think I’m at the point yet where I’m yearning for one of my own, but these are really neat airplanes.

Mostly because:

• It was the first Cessna to use Rolls Royce engines
• It was also the first to feature fully-integrated avionics
• The overly-large diameter of the engine intakes help to reduce noise
• It’s highly-swept wing (37 degrees) is one of the things which allows it to reach such a high top speed (Mach 0.935). For comparisons sake, the Learjet 45 has a very small amount of wing sweep and cannot fly anywhere near as fast.
• It features the same fuselage cross section as the Citation III
• The very first production Citation X went to legendary golfer Arnold Palmer
• It was Arnold’s aircraft’s that set a speed record of 473 knots (876 km/h) in September 1997. Take that Learjet!
• It’s wing passes below the fuselage (instead of through it)
• Winglets were an added option after 2009, and they increased the range of the Citation X by 150 nm.